The acquisition of PokerStars by Amaya Gaming seems to be lessening opposition to the online gambling company entering a possible California online poker market. Caesars entertainment officials are the latest to back PokerStars bid in the state.
Jan Jones Blackhurst, executive vice president of communication and government relations at Caesars Entertainment Corporation, reportedly told GamblingCompliance that PokerStars “should be considered for legalization in the U.S.”
Blackhurst also said Caesars needs “to focus on where our opposition really lies, and clearly it’s not Amaya and PokerStars. They are a strong ally in the space.”
That “opposition” may be a move to enact a federal ban on online gaming in Congress. A bill to outlaw online casino games in the U.S.—backed by Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson—has been re-introduced in Congress.
Reports say both Caesars and PokerStars want to work together to oppose the ban.
Caesars had backed a proposed “bad actor” clause in any potential California online bill that was seen as blocking PokerStars due to its past problems with the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ shut down PokerStars in the U.S. in 2011 for accepting U.S. player’s bet despite a federal ban—enacted in 2006—on online gambling. PokerStars did not admit wrongdoing, but paid a $700 million fine in order to settle the lawsuit.
But last year’s sale of the company to Amaya divested the company from any PokerStars executives involved with the DOJ’s lawsuit against the company.
Caesars and Amaya clearly have a better relationship.
“We no longer are seeking a bad actor clause in any state,” Jones Blackhurst said in an e-mail to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “With the purchase by Amaya, we believe PokerStars is cleansed of the taint and regulatory approval should be left to the regulators.”
PokerStars has an agreement to operate online gaming in the state with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, as well as three Los Angeles-area card rooms.
PokerStars spokesman Eric Hollreiser told the Review Journal the company welcomes Caesars’ support.
“In California, we’re part of a growing coalition working together to promote the industry, protect individual freedom and counter the misleading, negative campaign of self-interested, anti-competitive groups,” Hollreiser said.
Blackhurst’s comments also come after the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, Caesars’ online and land-based partner in California, as well as the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the United Auburn Indian Community also softened their attitude towards PokerStars.
The three tribes had been among about 13 tribes in the state pushing for a strong bad actor clause that likely would block PokerStars in the state.
In a letter send to Assemblymen Mike Gatto and Reggie Jones-Sawyer—who have both introduced online poker bills in the California legislature—the tribes said the clause should focus on individuals and not companies as a whole.
“This approach strikes a balance between the state’s need to ensure that persons who willfully defy gaming laws not be permitted to jeopardize the integrity of internet poker in California, while recognizing that control of an entity may change over time in a way that resolves regulatory concerns,” the letter said. “If a company that engaged in unauthorized gaming changed ownership, regulators would be able to review the effect of that change in ownership under the bill’s standards.”
The letter from the three tribes also supports allowing the state’s horseracing industry to be eligible for an online poker operator’s license in the same fashion as the state’s tribes and card rooms. The issue has been as divisive as allowing PokerStars into the state’s system.
The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians and Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians still remain strongly opposed to both measures, however, and their support is seen as vital to any online poker bill passing in California.
